CN1097537C - Spring tab shim support in rotary shank coupler - Google Patents

Abstract

A coupler (10) is provided for a railroad rotary dump car. The coupler (10) comprises a housing (16), a coupler head (12), a buff loading shim (90), and as most preferred, a plurality of spring tab fasteners (202). The coupler housing (16) defines a coupler cavity with a cavity end (216). The coupler head (12) has a spindle (14), is mounted to the coupler housing (16), and is adapted for rotary movement relative to the housing (16). The spindle (14) has a spindle end (72) adjacent the cavity end (216). The shim (90) interposes the spindle (14) and the cavity end (216). The spring tabs (202) are spaced one from another. Each includes a spring portion (210) and a fastener portion (212). The fastener portions (212) provide for removable fastening of the spring tabs (202) to the coupler housing (16). The spring portions (210) bias the shim against the cavity end (216) and away from the spring tabs (202). The spring portions (210) are curved relative to the fastener portions (212). The spring tab fasteners (212) removably fasten the spring tabs (202) along the fastener portions (212) to the coupler housing (16) adjacent the shim (90). Among other advantages, the shim (90) is positioned and spring biased for abutment by the spindle end (72) and against the cavity end (216) in buff loading and upward and against the cavity end (216) for increased life and reduced wear and damage. Also, the spring tabs (202) may be removed and the shim (90) removed and replaced as necessary due to wear of all components.

Description

Spring laminar shim bearings in swivel couplings

Background technique

This invention relates generally to rail cars, and more particularly to couplings for swivel dump cars. A swivel dump car and its linkage is shown in US Patent 4,595,109 issued June 17, 1986 to Carl McClurg, assigned to Buckeye International, Inc. of Columbus, Ohio. As illustrated and described in this patent, roll dump cars have long been used as rail cars. These dump cars can be positioned at the dump site and pivoted about the longitudinal axes of the aligned couplings to dump the contents of the vehicle near and below the dump car. The aforementioned patents also show that an ideal coupler for use in a swivel dump car includes a coupler head with a spindle in the housing. The pivot shaft has an outer bearing surface configured for rotational contact with the housing during rotation of the dump car relative to an adjacent car. The shaft of the coupling also includes an enlarged flange for supporting the shaft against the housing for pulling the load. Under a cushioned load, the free end of the shaft abuts against the shim, which in turn bears against the housing, thereby carrying the cushioned load. The structures in the above patents are widely recognized and appear in a large number of commercial products.

Occasions may arise where the shims will need to be replaced after a period of time due to wear occurring in the coupling structure. That is, it is suitable to install shims of increased thickness in worn joints. Therefore, although U.S. Patent No. 4,595,109 shows a bottom closed casting 40, the area and structure to the left of the enlarged portion 70 of the rotating shaft 14 and the bottom of the structure are welded to the housing 16 (refer to FIG. 3 of the patent), but In past practice, the welded bottom closure casting 40 has been replaced by tabs which are removably bolted in place. However, the use of bolted tabs can also result in undesired bolt damage, tab and shim loss. To avoid bolt damage and shim loss, the initial 3/8" bolts were replaced by eight 1/2" bolts and later by nine 1/2" bolts. However, it will continue Damage to bolts, loss tabs and shims.

US Patent No. 4,595,109 is incorporated by reference.

Summary of the invention

The object of the present invention is to avoid damage to the bolted foils which occurs in existing structures comprising the bolted foils.

Another object of the invention is to maintain the advantage of being able to remove and replace the shim, which is necessary to increase the thickness of the shim to accommodate wear.

The object of the present invention is achieved by providing a rail swivel dump car coupler for a rail swivel dump car having a spaced coupler and a pivot axis and allowing the car to rotate relative to the pivot axis, The coupler includes: a coupler housing defining a coupler chamber with chamber ends; a coupler head having a shaft mounted on the coupler housing and adapted to rotate relative to the coupler housing, The shaft has a shaft end proximate to the coupling housing chamber end; a shim means interposed between the shaft end and the chamber end; and a spring means in the form of at least one spring leaf for biasing A shim means, said spring means is mounted on the coupling whereby the shim means is positioned for being abutted by the end of the shaft in buffer loads and against the end of the chamber against wear and wear.

Preferably, said spring means comprises a plurality of spring laminae mounted to the coupling housing.

Preferably said spring tab is removably fastened to said coupling housing such that said tab can be removed and the shim can be replaced.

Preferably, the spring means comprises a plurality of spaced apart spring laminations comprising a spring portion and a fastening portion enabling releasable fastening of the spring laminations to the coupling housing , while the spring partially biases the shim against the end of the chamber.

Preferably, the spring portion also biases the shim away from the spring tab.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a rail swivel dump car coupler for a rail swivel dump car having couplers aligned and spaced apart along an axis, and for positioning the car relative to all positions of the car coupler. Rotating on said axis, the coupler includes: a coupler housing defining a coupler chamber with a chamber end; a coupler head with a shaft mounted on the coupler housing and adapted to be the housing rotates, the shaft has a shaft end adjacent to the chamber end; a shim interposed between the shaft end and the chamber end; a plurality of spaced apart spring sheets including a spring portion and a a fastening portion that removably fastens the spring tab to the coupler housing and a spring portion that biases the shim against the end of the chamber and away from the spring tab, The spring shims are mounted on the housing; thus the shims are positioned to be held against the end of the shaft while abutting against the end of the chamber in a cushion load, and up and against the end of the chamber for extended life And reduce wear and loss.

Preferably, the coupling further includes means for releasably securing said spring tab to the coupling housing so that said tab can be removed to allow removal and replacement of the shim.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a rail swivel dump car coupler for a rail swivel dump car having couplers aligned and spaced apart along an axis, and for positioning the car relative to all positions of the car coupler. Rotating about the axis, the coupler includes: a coupler housing defining a coupler chamber with a chamber end transverse to the axis; a coupler head with a rotating shaft mounted on On the coupling housing and adapted to rotate relative to the coupling housing, the shaft has a shaft end transverse to said axis, the shaft end being adjacent to the chamber end; a buffer load shim inserted between the shaft end and the chamber between the ends, a shim substantially in a plane transverse to said axis; a plurality of spaced apart spring sheets each comprising a spring portion and a fastening portion which enables said spring sheet to be detachably fastened to the coupler housing and the spring portion biases the shim against the end of the chamber and away from the spring tab, the spring portion is bent relative to the fastening portion; the spring tab fastener will The spring tab is detachably fastened along the fastening portion to the coupling housing adjacent to the shim; the shim is thus positioned and spring biased to be abutted by the end of the shaft in a buffer load Simultaneously abutting against the chamber end, and upwardly abutting against the chamber end, thereby prolonging life and reducing wear and tear; thereby allowing the spring sheet to be removed and thus the shim arrangement to be removed and replaced.

In one major aspect, the present invention includes a coupling substantially as described in U.S. Patent No. 4,595,109 having an improved spring leaf that is bolted to the underside of the coupling housing to hold the shim in place. bit. The spring lamination is most preferably in the form of a spring steel lamination shaped to provide an upwardly curved portion which biases the shim upwardly in the shim space and towards the innermost surface of the shim housing cavity. Press the shims.

In another broad aspect, and more particularly, the present invention includes a swivel dump car coupler for a rail turn dump car having spaced apart couplers aligned along an axis such that the car can be moved relative to the position of the car coupler. Axis rotation. The coupling includes a coupling housing, a coupling head, a cushion load shim, a plurality of spring sheets, and a spring sheet fastener. The coupler housing defines a coupler chamber having a chamber end transverse to the axis. The coupling head has a rotating shaft and is adapted to rotate relative to the coupling housing. The shaft has a shaft end transverse to the axis, the shaft end proximate to the chamber end. A cushion load shim is inserted between the end of the shaft and the end of the chamber, the shim being substantially transverse to the axis in a plane. There are multiple spring sheets spaced apart from each other. Each spring sheet includes a spring portion and a fastening portion. The fastening portion is used to detachably fasten the spring leaf to the coupling housing. The spring partially biases the shim against the end of the chamber and away from the spring tab. As mentioned above, the spring portion is bent relative to the fastening portion. The spring foil fastener releasably fastens the spring foil to the coupler housing adjacent the shim along a fastening portion. With the structure as described above, the shim is positioned and elastically biased to be abutted against the end of the shaft and against the end of the chamber in a buffer load, and up against the end of the chamber, thereby prolonging life And reduce wear and loss. Additionally, the shims can be removed to remove and replace the shims.

The various objects, aspects and advantages of the present invention can only be appreciated after a complete reading of the present specification and a complete understanding of the present invention. Therefore, to complete the present invention, the detailed description of the invention and the preferred embodiment follows a brief description of the accompanying drawings.

A brief description of the drawings

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the accompanying drawings, the following figures have the following characteristics:

Figure 1 is a schematic side view of a typical rail-mounted swivel dump car located in the unloading area, taken from U.S. Patent No. 4,595,109, wherein the above-mentioned patent and the improved coupling of the present invention are applied;

Fig. 2 is the top plan view of the improved coupler of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a side view;

Fig. 4 is a partial bottom view along line 4-4;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5-5 in Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is also a sectional view taken along line 5-5 in Fig. 3;

7 is an enlarged partial cut-away side view of a spring sheet of the present invention, showing the positional relationship between the spring sheet and the shim and surrounding structures;

Fig. 8 is a plan view of the spring sheet of the present invention.

In the drawings, the same reference numerals denote the same structures in each figure. In the detailed description that follows, terms such as "top", "bottom" and the like refer to the normal orientation of the structures described and shown in operation. Except where expressly employed in the specification, orientation terms are not incorporated into the claims.

Detailed description of the invention

Referring to Figure 1, the swivel dump cars 2, 4 and 6 are interconnected by couplings, at least one of which incorporates the present invention. The coupling is indicated by reference 10 . During the working process of turning the dumping car, the car is located on or near the dumping site as required, such as the dumping car 4 shown in FIG. 1 . A dump mechanism (not shown) clamps the car to a rail section, causing the car and rail section to rotate about the longitudinal axis of the coupler to dump the contents of the car at the dump site. During dumping, the adjoining front and rear carriages remain upward. Therefore, at least one of the couplings 10 must be a rotational coupling and must be able to withstand the compressive and tensile forces typically exerted by the cars during moderation and pull loads and to allow and withstand rotation of the dump car relative to its front and rear cars Movement load.

Although U.S. Patent No. 4,595,109 provides the required structure, as mentioned above, due to the wear that occurs in the coupling structure, it is necessary to replace the shims in this patent structure after a period of time with shims of increased thickness ( The replacement shim may also be replaced with a thicker shim). As a result, although U.S. Patent No. 4,595,109 shows a bottom closed casting 40 welded to the housing 16 in the region and structure to the left of the enlarged portion 70 of the shaft 14 (see FIG. 3 of the patent), In past practice, however, the welded bottom closure casting 40 has been replaced by tabs which are removably bolted in place. Using bolted sheets allows for replacement of the sheets after a period of time. However, the use of bolted shims also suffers from undesired bolt damage and shim and shim loss. To avoid damage to the bolts and loss of the shims, the original 3/8" bolts used were replaced with 8 1/2" bolts and later with 9 1/2" bolts. However, the damage continued Bolts and wear sheets and shims.

In keeping with the foregoing objectives, the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes an improved rail-rolling dump car 10 . Compared with conventional couplings, the coupling of the present invention includes a coupling housing 16, a coupling head 12 and a buffer load shim 90, which are shown in the accompanying drawings, particularly in FIG. Described and shown in the '109 patent.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 7 , the preferred embodiment newly includes a plurality of spring sheets 202 . The preferred embodiment also includes retaining plates 203 and sheet fasteners 204 in the form of bolts, as opposed to conventional flat sheets. Most preferably, there are two pieces each of spring tab 202, retainer plate 203 and fastener 204, the two sets of parts being laterally spaced from each other across the bottom of the coupler housing. Additionally, the plurality of spring tabs 202 and fasteners 204 are equidistant from each other about the vertical centerline of the coupler.

7 and 8, each spring sheet 202 includes a spring portion 210 and a fastening portion 212, the fastening portion 212 includes a bolt opening 214 for detachably fastening the spring sheet 202 to the coupling housing by a fastener 204 Body 16. The spring portion 210 is bent out of the plane of the fastening portion 212 . The spring laminae 202 are made of 0.015 inch thick 302 gauge stainless spring steel. The shape of the spring sheet is firstly machined, followed by the bending of the spring portion 210 .

The spring tab 202 biases the shim 90 against the cavity end 216 of the coupler housing 16 and away from the retainer plate 203 as shown in FIG. 7 . As described above, the spring portion 210 is bent relative to the fastening portion 212 . The spring web fastener 204 removably secures the spring web 202 to the coupler housing 16 proximate the shim 90 along the fastening portion 212 . The shim 90 is positioned and resiliently biased to be abutted by the shaft end 72 of the shaft 14 in a cushion load, and against the chamber end 216, and upwardly against the chamber end 216, Thereby increasing life and reducing wear and loss. During loading, the spring portion 210 is flexibly bendable relative to the fastening portion 212 for a "home" or rest position shown in solid lines in FIG. 7 and up to and reaching an "extended" position shown in dashed lines in FIG. movement between positions. When bent, the spring portion 210 stores force and returns to its original position after a load that exceeds the spring force of the spring portion 210 is relieved.

Accordingly, the spring portion 210 resiliently applies a load upwardly and against the chamber end 216 of the coupler housing 16 to the shim 90 so that the shim 90 performs the necessary movement during the coupling load and at Holds the shim 90 in the preferred position without coupling loads. The spring sheet 202 greatly reduces damage to the coupling structure, especially to the fastener 204 . Consequently, damage to the coupling structure, including wear to the spring laminations and shims, is substantially eliminated. In addition, the spring laminae 202 are easily removable, so that the shim 90 is easily removed and replaced, whether replacement is necessary due to wear in the coupler structure or is more desirable if it can be replaced .

Couplings can be produced using the structure of the present invention to meet AAR specifications and operational requirements. The structure can also be applied to strikers of various designs for swivel couplings, the same yokes used at both ends of the vehicle. This coupler eliminates the jerky action of the square shaft tipping over on a flat transporter. Maintains the impact strength of standard F-coupling shafts and provides backlash control for excess slack.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in comprehensive, clear, concise and precise language to enable those skilled in the art to make and use the present invention. Various embodiments exist without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which is claimed as the invention, the specification concludes with the following claims. The details of the preferred embodiments described above are incorporated into the claims so as to comply with the law.

Claims (8)

1. A rail swivel dump car coupler for a rail swivel dump car having a spaced coupler and a pivot axis and enabling rotation of the car relative to the swivel axis, the coupler comprising: a coupler housing defining a coupler chamber with chamber ends; a coupling head having a shaft mounted on the coupling housing and adapted to rotate relative to the coupling housing, the shaft having a shaft end proximate to the end of the coupling housing chamber; a caulking device inserted between the end of the shaft and the end of the chamber; spring means in the form of at least one spring leaf for biasing the shim means mounted on the coupling so that the shim means are positioned for being abutted against and against by the end of the shaft in a buffer load Tight chamber ends prevent galling and wear. 2. The coupling of claim 1, wherein the spring means comprises a plurality of spring laminae mounted to the coupling housing. 3. The coupling of claim 2, wherein the spring tab is removably secured to the coupling housing such that the tab can be removed and the shim can be replaced. 4. The coupling of claim 1, wherein the spring means comprises a plurality of spaced apart spring sheets, said spring sheets comprising a spring portion and a fastening portion, said fastening portion allowing said spring sheets to is releasably secured to the coupler housing, and the spring portion biases the shim against the end of the chamber. 5. The coupling of claim 4, wherein the spring portion also biases the shim away from the spring tab. 6. A rail swivel dump car coupler for a rail swivel dump car having couplers aligned and spaced apart along an axis and for rotating the car relative to said axis of the car coupler, the coupler include: a coupler housing defining a coupler chamber with chamber ends; a coupling head having a shaft mounted on the coupling housing and adapted to rotate relative to the coupling housing, the shaft having a shaft end proximate to the chamber end; a shim inserted between the end of the shaft and the end of the chamber; a plurality of spaced apart spring laminations including a spring portion and a fastening portion that removably secures the spring laminations to the coupler housing, and the spring portion biases the shim , so that it is close to the end of the chamber and away from the spring sheet, which is mounted on the housing; The shims are thus positioned to be abutted by the end of the shaft while abutting the end of the chamber, and up and abutting the end of the chamber in cushion loads, thereby extending life and reducing wear and wear. 7. A coupling according to claim 6, further comprising means for removably fastening said spring sheet to the coupling housing so that said sheet can be removed for removal. Remove and replace the shims. 8. A rail swivel dump car coupler for a rail swivel dump car having couplers aligned and spaced apart along an axis and for rotating the car relative to said axis of the car coupler, the coupler include: a coupler housing defining a coupler chamber having a chamber end transverse to said axis; a coupling head having a shaft mounted on the coupling housing and adapted to rotate relative to the coupling housing, the shaft having a shaft end transverse to said axis, the shaft end being adjacent to the chamber end; a cushion load shim inserted between the end of the shaft and the end of the chamber, the shim being substantially transverse to said axis in a plane; a plurality of spaced apart spring laminae each comprising a spring portion and a fastening portion for releasably fastening the spring laminae to the coupler housing, and the spring portion biases the spacer a sheet against the end of the chamber and away from the spring sheet, said spring portion being bent relative to the fastening portion; a spring foil fastener removably fastens the spring foil to the coupler housing adjacent the shim along the fastening portion; The shim is thus positioned and spring biased to be held against the end of the shaft while abutting against the end of the chamber in a cushion load, and upwardly against the end of the chamber, thereby extending life and reducing wear and wear; This allows the spring lamella to be removed and thus the shim arrangement to be removable and replaceable.

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